The Way of the Clan 8

by Dem Mikhaylov

  "It got messed up!” Malice was furious. “And only one forge in the world can restore the staff.”

  “And after the Outland? Another ancient spell! Sven almost left the clan after that - he talked with the BB for three hours on the topic: why do some get all and others get nothing? Now you clean up your mess! Run with Ros, raise his mana. Finish here - and you will be sent back to ships and dragons. Some people can say no, but you cannot.”

  "Uhm ..." I began, looking at the spy. Malice was even more fanatical than I had thought. “Bummer…”

  “Exactly,” said Whisper.

  I felt sorry for my mentor. Turning to Whisper, I said:

  "So, you refuse the ancient skill of the Great, right? The one was related to your profession?”

  “A?!” Whisper’s face distorted, looking at me intently. “This ... what skill? Connected with spies? Or with sniping? Disguise? Noiseless walking? Sticky fingers? Invisibility? Well?!”

  “You refuse, then,” I nodded. “I respect that. You really do not jump high, you do not ask a lot. A pot of mana is enough for you. Okay, Malice, where are we going next?”

  "To the north," the somewhat cheerful magician sighed again. "Next to our old lighthouse.”

  “What skill?!” Whisper nervously cracked his fingers. “What does it do? Does the Baroness have it? Whom is she going to pass it? It is not to Flexible Vines, right? And not that dumbass Dark Misericordia? I have been with the Baroness for years! From the very beginning! Who else if not me? Ros, what skill?!”

  “I was joking,” I brushed aside, saying the purest truth. “There was no skill. I wanted to make fun.”

  “No no no! That does not fly! I am serious — tell me. And she is now deciding who to give it to, right? And I'm wandering in the woods, chopping snakes, and those bastards, probably, are hanging out with the Baroness, begging for the skill… damn!”

  "What are your instructions?" I stopped paying attention to the spy.

  “We get on the mammoth and go. We are looking for a white tree. If we find it, we both grab a piece of special bark that will give us ten percent of mana for the whole day after use. I would have found it for myself but I had not forgotten about you… remember, to each person, one piece only. And only if you cut it yourself.”

  “Ten percent? It is worth it. Is the tree large?”

  "Oh, we will notice right away. It is tiny, but extremely beautiful, with lacy looking leaves. Such a tree cannot be confused with any other.”

  “Got it. Have you seen it before?”

  “Yes. Near the old lighthouse. In the Dark Edge, there are only three places, which had a white tree. But two are growing in places which are too dangerous.”

  "A white tree," said Roska with a dreamy tone, "Special... and is the wood flexible? Are the branches thick? Do they bend well? Dad, can I break off three branches of the tree? For fishing rods!”

  “Hell no!” Malice was enraged. “You cannot, young woman! In no case!”

  “Uncle Orbit says that it is possible, if you do it quickly and imperceptibly. And he also says that inactivity generates procrastination, which leads to indecision, and, consequently, generates weakness and cowardice ... And these are not qualities for real fishers!”

  “Let's see,” I promised. “Maybe we will break some off...”

  “Of course! Let us go! To the white tree...”

  "A good fishing rod would come out of it," Whisper sighed, and turned to me, startled. "So what's this skill of the ancients, Ros? Remember, our friendship is eternal and indestructible ...”

  “For the first time I hear it,” I said, refusing. “Where is north?”

  “Ros!” Kaylen's scream was filled with alarm. Having fallen down knee-deep in the foliage, she ran to us. “Anxiety on the deck!”

  “Oh, shit,” breathed out Whisper, turning around and taking out his chain. “Do you hear the rumble?! What the fuck...”

  The roar was really intense. And then there was a crunch, a creak and some crackling and thumping. And all of these noises grew in their loudness very quickly. Lifting his arms up, Malice leaned back and then forward with his whole body, as if throwing a large beach ball with his hands.

  "Shine!"

  A glittering magical ball of light appeared — one, which could be compared, in terms of brightness, with a military searchlight. The area lit up about fifty meters around. And we opened our mouths in amazement when we saw how close it was, the gigantic stump leaning back on thick black roots resembling terrible tentacles. On the side of the stump facing us, two big eyes burned angrily, the splintered mouth bristling fiercely.

  "Stump eater!" Doc shouted, working his hands like a propeller, hastily chanting something in between talking to us. “I read about them! Arboreal undead! But usually they do not come close to players!”

  "What's that on it?" I pointed, coming closer to my daughter and pointing my finger to the top of the monstrous stump. “What the hell is it?!”

  "Mother fucker..." said Whisper. “A tower! He is carrying a real tower on him! And on the top ... a rider?! Come on...”

  The spy raised a long telescope to his eye, peered, and jumped a couple of meters into the air.

  "Fuck! That is Fagnir Necrosis! From the Golden Templars! And some girl...”

  "Fagnir?" Said Malice. “It cannot be… they were waiting for us!”

  "They are trying to get rid of someone," I answered, looking at the smoking sections of the revived stump. "Someone was chasing after them. Someone strong and determined to kill.”

  "I wrote to Baron," said Whisper. "Now let us go! To those trees! The creature cannot get through them. And get ready for battle!”

  "The Baron? He was asleep.”

  “He asked to inform him. The rest was not my business. Go!”

  Our small squad gathered in a tight formation and moved to the wall of old trees. Whisper was in front, ready to accept the blow of our potential enemy. Following were our warriors, and then Malice — we clambered on top of the Kolyvan.

  We managed to put twenty meters between us, leaving behind a deep path in the foliage, which was quickly overgrown in front of our eyes. It was as if the undead stump did not notice us — he rearranged his limbs, turning back and edging away. He was running from someone...

  A flash of teleport flared, and a knight clad in bright scarlet armor collapsed to the ground. A tightly closed visor in the form of an angry, buffed animal mask stared at us. A predatory huge cat. A leopard. The furious beast had appeared.

  “Where is he?!” Roared the Red Baron. “Ah! I see him! This time he is mine! Got it?! Nobody touch him! I will bury him myself!”

  “Yes, for God's sake go,“ I shrugged my shoulders, answering for everyone. “Go get him, tiger.”

  The knight's voice was sleepy, indeed. Had he jumped up at the ringing of the message and immediately run to Valdira? Fagnir sure had got under his skin…

  “Only don’t fuck up,“ advised Kira, leaning against shoulder to shoulder with me and folded her arms over her chest.

  We did not have time to continue on the topic of the great battle, before several teleports opened in the air, and up to two dozen soldiers of the Sleepless Clan appeared in the forest.

  And what are they doing here? Also a unit sent for Necrosis?

  We did not have time to consider, either. The next movement came unprecedentedly fast. Malice sent us forward using a magical flow of air, which pushed at our backs and forward with an invisible benevolent force. Malice explained our reason for the hurry:

  “That is Fagnir Necrosis. The plague knight.”

  "Plague knight?" Kaylen asked, pulling out a thick book and opening it to a clean page. "So he was nicknamed? Why? No, I mean it is understandable why, but who and when was he so nicknamed?”

  “Are you making money in the Bulletin of Valdira?” Said Bom.

  “Right! I mean, I earn money, but the point is, that I work for them. I am writing without stopping!”

  “Nonsense,”
I shook my head in surprise.

  “But I do not give out any secrets,“ Kaylen hurried to say. “And I do not call names, I do not upload videos. I can write so that no one knows it was us. I do not describe objects, I do not call out their properties either!”

  "All right," I nodded. "Write."

  “And what is it of interest to us?” Bom was indignant.

  "Stop it," I interrupted him. "Do you get paid a lot there?"

  "Yes,” Cray answered for the girl, scratching his neck in embarrassment. "The sums are noble. I myself am in shock.”

  "So what about Fagnir?" I returned to the topic raised by Malice.

  “Plague carrier. He carries a cloud of terrible infection. And in our reports he was marked as an extreme danger. We hardly coped with those diseases. And not all of them. The baroness also forbade those who get infected to go on the campaign. If you get infected, you stay on the beach. Watch the Baron himself get infected. And who is to blame? Only he himself is- he wants to take revenge.”

  “Revenge?

  “Yeah. Fagnir crushed him the last time,” Whisper interrupted. “Killed the Baron! It is understandable…”

  “For the sake of it he will risk getting sick?” Bom said again. “Nonsense!”

  "For the Baron, defeat means a lot. But yes — he is an asshole. He can lose the trip to the lost continent because of a night in the forest…”

  “Keep close,” ordered Malice. “I will keep the safety aura on ... and the devil ... about the daughter of Rosa forgot. The dome will not rise above it. She teleports only because of canned tears.

  "We may be left behind," I suggested.

  “I will stay with him,“ the spy volunteered. “Cover the others with the dome. I will take care of Ros.”

  “Keep your eyes peeled — a white tree can be behind any bush.”

  "There are no bushes here. Only some giant trees and fallen leaves.”

  “So look behind the trunks! Whisper! Do not cling to my words and my nerves! Or I will turn you into a sneezing pile of dust!”

  “And why sneezing?”

  “Because the pile will be allergic to dust! Keep looking!”

  “Are you okay?” Kira turned to Roska, who was saddling Tyrant and looking away to where the noise was coming from, and flashes of colored lights were blazing.

  "There was a girl ... with the knight."

  “So what?

  “She was the same as me,“ Roska said, looking at me. “The same girl as I am! Only stronger...”

  “Stronger?”

  “Yes. I felt. She was very strong! Very, very strong! And she saw me...”

  “Damn,“ Malice said in response. “Accelerate doubly! And do not leave the position! I’m starting to incinerate!”

  "Another girl?" I asked, and immediately turned to the magician. “Incineration?”

  “The deadly flame of darkness,“ he answered. “The Great Spell.”

  “What a name...”

  "Look at the effect..."

  He threw up his hands, spread them out, and many dark sparks fell from his fingers. Purple? Or even darker? Where the sparks fell on the vegetative carpet, fire started instantly. Dark orange, with violet flashes, and completely smokeless. But nothing caught fire. Only the foliage, rare grass and branches blackened and shriveled, issuing a slight rustling and crackling.

  Our small detachment rapidly swept into the darkness between the trees. The bright magical light above our heads was extinguished. And the dark flame was almost imperceptible, but terrifying by its effect. Malice stepped forward, watching the magic that was raging around us. Surrounded by a deadening darkness, we went among the trees, destroying all life. Like in a scary movie...

  A deciduous fern exploded, and a dozen bearded men with axes and swords jumped out from behind it. The robbers. No sooner had they shouted something hoarse a dark wave covered them, and then they simply disappeared, turning into posthumous flashes and clouds of settling dust.

  A huge panther, grinding his claws on the bark of a tree, descended the trunk and prepared to jump on the neck of Kolyvan. The magician waved his hand carelessly, and the tongue of the dark fire flew up and licked the muzzle of the predatory beast. As if obliterated, it fell down, disappearing into the flames forever.

  Snakes, rustling unknown creatures moving under the foliage, left behind only ashes - they all died, and Malice walked on and on. Occasionally he put a large bottle of bluish crystal filled with a blue mana to his lips. Apparently, the costs of the constantly supported spells of the Ancient was monstrous. But Malice coped with it.

  And I…

  I followed him, and did not take my eyes off the dozens of lines crawling before my eyes-I was getting experience. Little by little, since our group was very large and heterogeneous, but still I got some. Excellent. The night raid continued to bear fruit.

  We were not silent. It was difficult to keep silent when you were walking in the midst of a magical flame, and in the gloomy Dark Edge. Topics were very diverse. But all of our talk concerned defense and attack. And gossip about the giant stump with the stone tower on its vertex.

  I did not make any assumptions. I knew exactly who was sitting up there- another future goddess. Very young. A girl. Mysterious and skinny, just like my Roska. But already very strong. Very, very strong. That spoke about many things at once.

  No need for a wise man to make the assumption that the girl from the tower, riding with the Plague Knight, sent down new and terrible diseases.

  And the second assumption- Roska was lagging behind. We urgently needed to close the gap with her strength and education. But how to spur the development of a divine child, especially at a time when we are making a sea expedition? I did not have time… but I needed to come up with something.

  I experienced a huge amount of gratitude to Orbit. And to Kira. They were engaged with Roska much more than I was. Kira provided maternal care, making sure that her daughter was happy, dressed and not left hungry. And Orbit instructed her.

  Orbit was walking madness. Giggling and mischievous. But he also knew a lot about the world of Valdira. He was also the son of the one who can be called Valdira's first human. Therefore, I would not interfere with the educational process anymore. At least, until I could replace it. At an equivalent level. And indeed, Orbit did have a gift.

  "My God ..." Whisper said, staring into the air in front of him. “Malice, read the report.”

  "I'm busy," Malice answered, waving his hand towards a giant, a sinister figure hiding behind a tree trunk and holding something like a three-meter club over his head. "Read it aloud."

  “We surrounded the stump with the tower. They have not yet determined if the clan was haunted by the stump with the tower, but this is a matter of time.”

  “That's good.”

  “Well, no. Over the battlefield, a giant golden cross-surrounded by thousands of small white birds around it has been raised. A cross the size of a seven-story building. The birds like pigeons. Only very fast. And with every moment, the cross becomes brighter, as if filled with light. And there is some kind of solemn organ music. Do you understand?”

  “CLOUD of the Golden Templars,” answered my girl, listening to Ahn. “Probably.”

  "That's right," exclaimed Whisper. "The Templars are going to strike the Dark Edge with CLOUD!"

  “Move even faster,“ snapped Malice. “Twice as fast! We must get three miles away!”

  “Do you think it can catch us?” I was amazed. “We have already fled two miles!”

  “The trees,” answered Malice. “Dark Edge is alive! According to legend, it is an ancient elven forest, which once, for some reason, rebelled against the elves. And drove them away. And then the forest fell asleep. Most of the trees here are alive. And if the CLOUD of the Templars injures them ... the whole area will turn into a howling wooden thrasher, bent on destroying all life!”

  “And how big is the area?!”

  "No less than five miles in diameter. Faster! Let’s
move!”

  “But why would they use CLOUD against ten Sleepless?!” I shouted, completely perplexed.

  "It is not for just us!” Replied Whisper. “We are an unexpected splinter in the knee. We accidentally helped those who chased the stump and tower in the beginning. And the original pursuers are very much ... damn it! It is very complicated! We have to hurry! And after that, not return to the continent again!”

  "You can choose that," Malice remarked quietly, continuing to destroy the robbers, evil elves, panthers and other local living creatures with the help of terrible magic.

  “Right,” muttered Whisper. “Refuse the campaign to the new mainland? Yeah, right. Look! Wolves!”

  With a dull growl, a dozen huge and shaggy black wolves appeared. Their eyes sparkled. Classic wolves. Such classics they would be happy to tear the guests of the ancient forest into small pieces. Malice jerked his shoulder, the flaring magic flame moved toward the pack of wolves, but was stopped by Roska's protesting cry:

  "Do not touch the wolves!" The voice of the future goddess was so loud that we all involuntarily flinched.

  “I will not,” the magician immediately said, taking his hand away. “If they do not touch us.”

  "They are good," my daughter muttered, insulted, looking steadily at the forest predators. "They are just curious."

  "No, no," I said, deciding that my daughter might be blissfully ignorant. "These animals are very evil and hungry, my dear. They can do us evil ...”

  “No,“ cut off Roska, looking at me like a monster who had accidentally shown its dark essence. “These are wolves! Big black beautiful wolves, almost as beautiful as my Tyrant!”

  "My Tyrant ..." If everything keeps going as is, it seems that daddy would be left without a pet in the very near future.

  Meanwhile, the flock of predators moving toward us slowed down and stared at the teenage girl riding a huge black and white wolf. She, in turn, looked at them, while our unit quickly passed by. A minute later, the wolves were left behind us, not having attacked. A farewell, multi-voiced howl poured into the night.